Oil Paint Disaster

marissa — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 02:27:23 -0400

I am kind of discouraged after a week of experimenting with making oil paints using natural pigments and linseed oil. The conclusion of my experiments is that it doesn’t work. My pigments all come from soils and I was using linseed oil bought at the local hardware store. The linseed oil turns the pigment powders about five shades darker, and after a week, they still haven’t dried. Linseed oil is supposed to be a “drying oil” meaning that with oxidation a chemical change takes place turning the oil into a dry plastic-like solid. It’s a bit of a shame that this didn’t work since I have 4 liters of linseed oil sitting in our shed.

Originally I was making the transition from egg tempera to oil paint in order to paint on canvas. Oil paint is more flexible than egg tempera, therefore can be used on a flexible support like canvas, whereas egg tempera requires a more rigid support like wood panels, board, or in my case thick paper. The root of the problem must be that I am using “industrial-grade” not “artist-grade” linseed oil. I’m going to bring back some of my pigments and try this again at home with the highest quality artist-grade linseed oil.

In the mean time, I am going to continue working in egg tempera on 300lb hot-pressed watercolor paper. If I mount and frame these properly when I get back home they should be in good shape to last 100+ years!

Playing in the Mud

marissa — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 08:22:09 -0400

Yesterday was an absolutely increadible day. It was a I'm-so-glad-I'm-in-Malawi day.
Earlier last week Jon received a text message on his cell from a mysterious sender saying, "Hie Marissa - paintlady says be there Saturday26Aug". Which painter lady? Lilongwe or Mzuzu? Who sent this? I had so many questions, but we were hystarical with laughter because this baffled, utterly confused feeling has become such a part of life.

Eventually we found out that it was Isaac, a friend's housekeeper and my translator for art visits out to the villages. What a sweet person! He had set up a meeting for me to visit a family who paint murals on their house. This would be my second visit, this time I was hoping to learn how they make their paints and conceive their designs.

At 9am on saturday morning we exited the university walls and walked out into rural Malawi village life. It only took 5-10 minutes to arrive at their house, but I was surprised how far into the bush it felt and how small things put me into culture shock...like how sickly their malnutritioned neighbor's child looked, the father's intimate knowledge of the land, the pigglet sniffing and snorting at my feet, and a meal of dirty boiled banannas for lunch. My "city" life in Mzuzu, only a mile away, is just so different.

I'm writing about this now, just after watching, “True Hollywood Story” about the Hilton sisters. We have DSTV for a few days at the new house we are watching. At this moment, I can't fathom how it is possible that we are all living in the same world at the same point in time. I do feel like I'm on another planet in another gallaxy.

Anyway, back to my story... after the usual 45 minutes of waiting for someone to show up, or something to happen, the father arrived and greeted us with somewhat guarded enthusiasm. We took off for the dambo (river) to collect soils for paint making. His youngest son with, hoe in hand, trotted ahead as we weaved through houses, past the market stand, and through cultivated fields. We were in the getle valley of the dambo, a sea of green on ashen soil. The father came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the fertile moon-like landscape and began to dig, swinging up, over, and down with the grace and force of gravity. Soon the land below revealed a precious yellow soil. It was unbelievable how it hid so inconspicuously under that thick blanket of grey. It was a deep musty yellow, not all that special to the naked eye, but we had been here once before. On a previous visit, with a handful of soil and a quick dip in a water hole, the most vibrant golden yellow spilled from between his fingers and bled into the water making the whole pool a reflection of its hidden beauty.

We all started back for the house to mix paint and transform walls. When we arrived the oldest daughter was brewing up a concoction of charcoal powder (makhala, pronounced ma-k-ha-ra), corn flour (ufa, oo-fa) and water (magi, ma-gee) on an open fire. The corn flour serves as the binder, helping the charcoal and water molecules stick to one another creating a solid, fluid color. I had read that any starch could serve this purpose (corn flour, wheat flour, casava flour, etc) and here was a family "way out" in the bush who have been doing this for generations.

The other pigments (our precious yellow soil, typical Malawian red soil, and an interesting mix of light grey soil with expired, dried-up blue paint) would only need a little water. The mixing was the best part...litterally playing in the mud!!

The father is the main artist, but acording ot Isaac, my translator, the tradition comes from the mother's side of the family. He started working on the wall next to the front door. A thick diamond checkered border at the base with all 4 colors and a giant abstract flower bursting from a flower pot. He was using a nail to scratch outlines on the mud wall and a brush made from a reed-like grass off his thatched roof. Another thing I had read about! Natural brushes can be made by chewing on the ends of certain sticks and thick grasses to separate the fibers into bristles.

We all jumped-in to help on the larger wall and I showed the kids how we could mix the blue and yellow to make green. I'm amazed how I take basic color mixing for granted...it's just not a skill people learn at home or at school around here. The little boys painted a running man with our new green while I had some fun on their grain storage structure to paint a flower of my own...Isaac finishing off the final details.

It was a beautiful day. I hope to visit again!

Walking to the Dambo, looking for Yellow

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:49:06 -0400

Making Yellow

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:42:13 -0400

yellow soil + water = Yellow Paint

Making Black

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:39:46 -0400

Pounded Charcoal + Corn Flour + water + fire = Black Paint

Little One Hanging out at the Kitchen

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:38:14 -0400

This is the family's kitchen

Isaac Finishing My Flower Mural

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:37:05 -0400

This is the flower I painted for the family on their peanut storage structure.

Abstract flower mural on village house

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:34:27 -0400

Father Painting Flower Mural

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:32:55 -0400

Digging in the Dambo Valley for Gold (aka yellow soil)

jon — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:28:50 -0400

Barrio Malawi - Natural Pigments